CITY MANAGER’S BIWEEKLY Prepared for the City Commission, November 5-18, 2015 The United Way campaign for General Government concludes Thursday, Nov. 5! The City of Gainesville supports this campaign year after year because United Way’s work in our community is extremely important. Team captains will distribute pledge forms by the end of the month, so if you have not received it yet, you will receive your pledge form soon. To keep up to date with the campaign’s many upcoming events, visit the United Way campaign page on the city’s intranet. Upcoming United Way fundraising events: o Thursday, Nov. 5 – Gift card extravaganza drawing In observance of Veterans Day, city offices will be closed Wednesday, Nov. 11. RTS will provide limited bus service on Veterans Day. Routes 1, 2, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 20, 26 and 35 will run between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. All other routes will be suspended. Curbside collection service for solid waste, recycling and yard trash will not be affected by the Veterans Day holiday. The 2015 Gainesville’s Little Ones (GLO) Food Drive continues through Thursday, Nov. 19. Boxes are available throughout city facilities. The GLO Program (Gainesville’s Little Ones) is underway for this year. There is still time to adopt a family. Please contact Susanne Olivas at 393-7967 as soon as possible if you (or your department/division) are interested. Participating staff will be notified about the family before the long Thanksgiving weekend. This will be the 37th year GLO families have benefited from the generosity of city employees. Fire Station No. 1: The design for Fire Station 1 should come before the City Commission Dec. 17 for approval. The plan is to begin construction in June 2016. Cofrin Nature Park Repairs complete and Park Reopened: PRCA is pleased to announce the reopening of Cofrin Nature Park, which is located at 4810 NW Eighth Ave. in Gainesville. As of Friday, Oct. 23, the park is open its regular hours, 7 a.m.-7:30 p.m., seven days a week. Cofrin Nature Park closed in the spring for renovations, including major structural repairs to stabilize the shoreline of Beville Creek, a stream that bisects the park. A picturesque bridge was installed to allow park patrons to cross the creek and access the Survivors of Suicide Memory Garden and park nature trails. Upgrades also included the removal of a house and connection of the public restrooms to the city’s municipal sewer system. All improvements reap significant environmental benefits. Northwest Eighth Avenue: Construction started Oct. 19 in Section A, between Northwest 40th Drive and Northwest 34th Street, and is anticipated to be complete in December. Some temporary lane closures should be expected. Construction of Section C, between Northwest 23rd Street and Northwest Sixth Street, is expected to start in November and be complete in February 2016. Section B, between Northwest 34th and Northwest 23rd Streets, is in the final design stages, and is expected to be under construction between spring and summer 2016. For more information, please visit the project website or contact Stefan Broadus, project manager at [email protected] or 352-393-8406. Depot Avenue Segment 2: As of Oct. 15, the Southwest Sixth Street intersection has been closed by the roadway contractor, O’Steen Brothers, for construction. The intersection will remain closed for approximately three months while the contractor is constructing a roundabout with underground City Manager’s Biweekly Report, Page 1 of 10 utilities, stormwater, streetscaping and landscaping. Both two-way vehicular and pedestrian traffic will be accommodated between Southwest Sixth and Southwest 11th Streets, and two-way vehicular traffic will be maintained east of Southwest Sixth Street to Southwest Main Street. Construction of the multi-use trail between Southwest Sixth Street and Main Street is currently under construction and will remain closed until completion. The contractor’s contact person for this project is Don Shackelford, and he can be reached at 352-459-1031. For more information, questions or comments, please contact John Veilleux, project manager, at [email protected] or 352-393-8418. Old Airport Landfill Remediation: Remediation of the old airport landfill began in April. Restoration activities include regrading slopes, removing trash from the wetlands and Little Hatchet Creek, and capping the landfill with two feet of clean soil cover. Construction is wrapping up over the next two weeks, and demobilization began Oct. 19. The project will improve the water quality in Little Hatchet Creek and enhance adjacent wetlands. For more information, please visit the project website or contact Betsy Waite, project manager, at [email protected] or 352-393-8405. Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program: The USDA Forest Service, through the Florida Forest Service‘s Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program, provided grant funding to the City of Gainesville. Grant funds were used to 1) transition from paper-based collection to electronic data collection of tree assessments, 2) create a city-wide schedule for right-of-way tree maintenance, 3) create an annual individual tree assessment schedule and 4) construct a base map of urban forestry management. All four of these objectives have been met and the City of Gainesville recently received the Certification of Acceptance from the Florida Forest Service. The City of Gainesville is grateful for the support of this grant by State Representative W. Keith Perry and the U.S. Forest Service. The City of Gainesville is also appreciative of the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Florida Forest Service for providing technical and financial assistance. Communications Office contact: Bob Woods – 352-393-8627 Local fifth graders visited City Hall Tuesday, Oct. 20 to celebrate City Government Week. This special field trip is offered annually to the fifth grade Citizens of the Month (for September) for Alachua County public schools. Approximately 18 students and a parent/chaperone toured various city facilities, including City Hall, a recreation center, a fire station, the traffic management system, met with GPD’s K-9 unit and more. The day concluded with the students recording a public service announcement for Community 12TV and holding a mock commission meeting with Commissioner Craig Carter. This year's City Government Day marks the 10th year that the school board has joined together with the city to offer this educational opportunity. Fundraising partners for this program include Chris and David Flagg and state Attorney Bill Cervone. The Nov. 1 edition of The Gainesville Sun also had an opinion piece about the program. Broadcast staff released a video of the 6th Annual Gainesville’s Got Talent Show, where city employees showcased their talents. Proceeds raised at the event benefit the United Way of North Central Florida. A few years ago, new serial digital interface (SDI) upgrades were installed in the City Commission Auditorium. More recently, the decision was made by the Communications Office to install equipment that will carry these higher quality signals that are being produced by the city on to Cox Cable and Granicus (video streaming and archiving partner). The new digital format includes an SDI internet-based closed captioning system and fully digital Granicus and Cox encoders. Along with improved signal quality, the infrastructure is now in place for a complete high-definition upgrade in the future. This infrastructure upgrade cost $45,000 - all of which was provided for with capital grant funds. City Manager’s Biweekly Report, Page 2 of 10 Gainesville 101: the Fall 2015 Citizens’ Academy began in early October and continues through Nov. 18. During this reporting period, attendees will visit the Gainesville Police department and GRU’s Murphree Water Treatment Facility (where they will see presentations from Planning and Development Services, the Economic Development & Innovation Department and GRU) and the Neighborhood Improvement Department. Attendees of the fall 2015 Citizens' Academy will be recognized at the Thursday, Nov. 19 City Commission meeting. If you are interested in participating in the 2016 sessions, pre-register now! The tentative start date for the next session is Wednesday, March 9 and the classes last for seven weeks. GFR Administration and Operations contact: Chief Jeff Lane – 352-334-5078 The Gainesville Fire Rescue Strategic Plan and Standards of Cover may be viewed on the GFR page of the city’s website at www.gfr.org. GFR’s second comprehensive Citizens’ Survey has been published to the GFR website and shows the comparison between the 2011 and 2014 results for GFR’s services. GFR’s 2014 Annual Report is now available online. GFR Risk Reduction Bureau contact: Interim Asst. Chief Steve Hesson – 352-393-8449 Gainesville Fire Rescue can now be found on Facebook! Project Get Alarmed helps those who cannot afford smoke detectors. Applications are available online or by calling Risk Reduction Specialist Krista Ott at 393-8461. Requests for car seat safety checks and installation should be directed to GFR’s Risk Reduction Specialist Krista Ott at 393-8461. GFR continues to host crowd manager training to enhance community safety. A fee of $30 per person will be charged beginning with the next class Jan. 6, 2016. For information on Safe Assembly Training classes, please call 334-5065. GFR Support Services Bureau contact: Interim Asst. Chief Mike Cowart – 352-393-8459 Gainesville Fire Rescue continues to provide CPR and related course offerings to the community through its Operation C.A.R.E or Citizens Aiding in Response to Emergencies. The program is being provided on a fee basis by the City Of Gainesville to increase the number of persons who can perform CPR, first aid and other skills during an emergency until help can arrive. For more information, please visit gfr.org/community training.